Prize Money or Merit Payments % breakdown

This guide will provide you with all the information surrounding merit payments, the difference in money between the 4 variations of payment distribution structures and exactly how much money you'll get for finishing in any particular position in any series, under any payment structure.

Introduction to Prize Money

Money makes the world of motorsport go round and at the end of every season, your team will be awarded a % of the series prize pool for your achievements based upon your finishing position in the constructor's championship for that year.

Each racing series has a different prize pool on offer, with the World Motorsport Championship offering $500m, the Asia Pacific Super Cup offering $250m and the European Racing Series offering $125m in prize money respectively.

To complicate things further, there are 4 methods which the prize money can be distributed. High and very high merit payments means that the teams at the top of the standings at season's end get awarded considerably more prize money than the teams at the bottom. Standard merit payments means that there's only a small difference between the money given to 1st place and 10th place, keeping things relatively even amongst all teams but still rewarding performance, while equal merit payments means that everyone is given the same amount of money at season's end, regardless of how you performed.

In the table below are the percentage (%) breakdowns of how the prize money is distributed under each payment structure:














At the start of a new game (without any modifications); the 3 racing series will use the following prize money distribution structures:

• World Motorsport Championship: High merit payments
  
• Asia Pacific Super Cup: High merit payments
  
• European Racing Series: Standard merit payments

Throughout the course of the game, you may be randonly offered the chance to vote on changes to the merit payment distribution structure through the Global Motorsport Association votes. These can be voted upon and changed in successive seasons but not twice in the same season.

World Motorsport Championship

The World Motorsport Championship has a prize pool of $500m, the highest of the 3 series. By default, at the start of a new game it uses the high merit payment structure (shown in bold in the table below).

The table below shows exactly how much money you will receive for the position you finish under each of the 4 payment structures:

Asia Pacific Super Cup

The Asia Pacific Super Cup has a prize pool of $250m (half of the WMC, double of the ERS); the 2nd largest on offer of the 3 series. By default, at the start of a new game it uses the high merit payment structure (shown in bold in the table below).

The table below shows exactly how much money you will receive for the position you finish under each of the 4 payment structures:

European Racing Series

The European Racing Series has a prize pool of $125m (half of the APS, a quarter of the WMC); the smallest on offer of the 3 series. By default, at the start of a new game it uses the standard merit payment structure (shown in bold in the table below).

The table below shows exactly how much money you will receive for the position you finish under each of the 4 payment structures:

Conclusion and credits

Many people have asked questions regarding promotion and relegation and is it worth it being promoted and finishing last in the higher series the next season financially rather than staying in your current league and winning again. Well, as we can see from the tables above, the only time when it is better financially to reject promotion and win a lower league, is when both leagues are using the very high merit payment distribution, and even then only if you know you'll come last. I believe that it's always best to be promoted, no matter what situation and back yourself to out develop or strategise other teams and not come last in the higher league.


Credits

The prize pool amounts and distribution percentages are correct as of patch 1.2 on December 24th, 2016, using the stock game with no mods or add-ons.

I do not own the image rights used in the title picture of this guide, all rights are owned by PlaySport Games, the developers of Motorsport Manager.

[berniyh]

I think the recommendation regarding the promotion is a bit short-sighted. If you just look at the price money, then it's correct, but there are much more aspects to the finances. For instance in the higher leagues, the races are more expensive and there might be more races, so the running costs over a year can be significantly higher.
I was able to win the Asia-Pasific Supercup after just one year and did the direct promotion to the WMC, but the first year in the WMC was pretty damn hard regarding finances. Luckily, I managed some really good results in rain races (where you can out-smart the AI best), so I didn't run into bigger problems, but if I didn't have those good results, I would have been in big trouble, I think.
Looking back, maybe a year longer in the Asia series would have been a good choice to upgrade HQ etc.

[OOR | Bender Rodriguez]

@redictor There is, if you can read the game file data then you can find out. I can't however so I'm unable to do it. Additionally if you played through the endurance championships enough to gather enough data manually it could be possible but that would take a long time.

[redictor]

Is there some way to figure out the percentages for endurance dlc? They after all use 6 teams in each division and you can't exactly just divide it by two from this

[Blackbird Ater]

So basically, what I do is save votes and then use them to vote for 'very high merit payments' the season before I predict I will anywhere above the top half, as the $1 million cost is well worth the payout. Then I basically dominate the races, collect 5-star sponsor payments and upgrade my facilities. After a season or two of that, I then step up to the higher league with a heavily upgraded HQ so I can focus on just developing the car while at the bottom so I can quickly climb the ranks.

Hope that makes sense.

[Yacno]

Codename, I guess it all has to do with your marketability. If you have a very high marketability, it may be better to stay so you grab alot of sponsor money.
That said, I think you are better off going up always, even if you have high marketability and win lots of races in the lower division.

[Blackbird Ater]

Not sure if you factored this into your recommendation. But if you go up a league and finish further down the grid, you lose out on race bonuses since I won't be finishing 1st or 2nd most races. Potentially cashing in on race win sponsor bonuses might be better to save some cash for an extra season before stepping up. Thoughts?